Three killed on Missouri roads during Thanksgiving holiday

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The combination of slick roadways and heavy traffic during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend claimed three lives in Missouri, the Missouri State Highway Patrol reports.

Between Wednesday evening and Sunday, troopers investigated a total of 365 traffic crashes, three of which proved fatal. In all three crashes, the deceased drivers had not been wearing seatbelts.

The first deadly crash occurred Wednesday evening in Warrenton, Mo., when a vehicle slid through and intersection, skidding off the road and into a tree, killing the driver.

Two additional fatalities occurred in crashes on Friday. A teenage driver died when the vehicle he was driving ran off the roadway and struck a tree near Sikeston. And a 51-year-old women was killed in Princeton when her car began to veer off the road and she over-corrected, sending the vehicle tumbling off the road in the opposite direction.

The total number of deaths during Thanksgiving travel was down from the previous year. Seven people were killed during the Thanksgiving holiday last year. However, the total number of injuries caused by traffic accidents was up this year over last, from 114 statewide to 125.

During the holidays, troopers also stepped up their patrols and as a result arrested 126 people for driving while intoxicated -- down from 144 DWI arrests made during Thanksgiving 2010.